A TALE OF TWO COAL FIRES

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

Risen Lord appearing to disciples at Sea of Tiberias

The Holy Gospel reading for the first Sunday after New Sunday is from St John 21: 1-14. The passage is immensely rich in imagery, metaphors and learning. It is difficult to combine all the devotional thoughts about this passage in a single blog.

The Gospel of St John Chapter 21 contains an account of the Risen Christ’s third appearance to the disciples in Galilee (Sea of Tiberias), miraculous catch of 153 fish, the confirmation of St. Peter's love for Jesus, a foretelling of St. Peter's death in old age, and a comment about the beloved disciple's future.

If I would have to name a protagonist (among the apostles) in this passage, among the apostles, that would be St Peter (and to some extent St. John). However, St Peter's life and ministry that we encountered in the Holy Gospels doesn’t mirror exactly what our view of superheroes and heroes are,- such superheroes whose clothes make fashion statements, who have no weaknesses, need no help from others, are out there to save the world singlehandedly. In contrast, our ‘hero’ is a simple fisherman, one who zealously loved his Master but at the crucial moment, fearing for his safety and in his weakness, he denied knowing Jesus Christ.

We may not really ascribe the below passage with great importance and this is stated after the verses wherein Peter denies Christ the first time:

 “Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.” (St John 18:18; NKJV).

Now read verses 9 of the Gospel portion for the coming Sunday:

“Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.” (St John 21:9; NKJV). (Emphasis mine)

As the disciples, after instructed by our Lord to cast the net on the right side and having caught multitude of fish, were coming ashore; they saw fire of coals there with fish laid on it and bread.

Verses 15 onward we note our Lord asking Simon Peter three time whether he loves Him. The sight and smell of the coal fires as well as the three questions would have brought bitter memories of denial in St Peter’s memory.

Both St. Peter and Lord Jesus Christ were present in both ‘settings of the coal fire.’

• -      The first one was lit by officers who wanted to do away with Christ and the second was lit by Christ Himself.
• -   The first was lit when Jesus was undergoing the Trial and the second after He conquered the death (which the officers hoped to give Him after the trial).
• -    In the presence of the ‘worldly’ fire lit by the officers and servants, Peter denied Christ three times. In the presence of the fire lit by Christ, Peter affirmed his love for the Lord three times and was reinstated back to the apostolic fold.
• -    In the warmth of the ‘worldly’ fire lit by the officers and servants, Peter tried to protect himself from the cold but in his heart, he received no comfort. In the presence of the fire lit by Christ, Peter received food for nourishment of his body (fish and bread), nourishment and comfort for his soul (forgiveness) and a commandment to tend and feed the lambs and sheep of Christ.

-      In our spiritual journey, we also would have had the ‘coal fire’ moment which Peter encountered. In our weaknesses, we would have faltered. What is striking in the above Gospel verses is that Jesus not only forgives, but He also strengthens Peter to overcome his shame and guilt and renew himself for the tasks ahead. In few weeks, when we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, we will  remember the bold leader St Peter who talked about Christ to others. A bold leader- restored and transformed by grace and the love of our Lord. As they teach in monasteries, when you fall-rise again!

St Isaac the Syrian presents a beautiful thought and prayer about repentance: 

"It is You who grant repentance and a sorrowing heart to the sinner who repents; in this way You ease his heart of the weight of the sin that is laid upon it, thanks to the comfort which comes from the sorrowing and the gift of tears” (Hilarion Alfeyev, The Spiritual World of Isaac the Syrian, Kentucky, Cistercian Publications, 2000, Pg-129)

‘O Apostles and holy fathers pray for us weak and sinful beings, that the grace of our Lord may manifest in us as it happened in Peter and that we may truly rejoice from our hearts in this season of Resurrection.’

In Christ,

Rincy

(Icon taken from https://www.orthodoxmonasteryicons.com/products/appearance-of-the-jesus-christ-to-his-disciples-into-the-sea-of-galilee-icon)

Courage, Thy name is Thomas.

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

The Gospel reading for the New Sunday is from the Gospel of St John 20:19-29. Let us read the Gospel passage:

Icon-The Belief of St Thomas

“Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (NKJV)

“Let us also go, that we may die with Him.” - (St John 11: 16); such was the response of St Thomas when the Lord decided to undertake the journey to Judaea knowing very well that trouble awaited them. We also note in the first verses of the above Gospel reading that the disciples (excluding St Thomas) were assembled in a room with doors shut for they feared the Jews. We do not where St Thomas was; but the rest of the disciples in the room feared for their lives. The man who needed to be convinced of the truth of resurrection may have been going around the city probing about the Risen Lord without concern for his safety.

It is then that the Lord appeared to the rest of the disciples and when the disciples told this encounter to Thomas, he wasn’t entirely influenced.

The British poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote in ‘The Memoriam’:

“There lives more faith in honest doubt,

Believe me, than in half the creeds.”¹

St Thomas was brutally honest. He wasn’t someone who would acknowledge something without being sure of it. It takes lot of courage to ask an honest doubt- our society since time immemorial has been known for belittling those who have asked doubts. The news of the resurrection sounded too good to be true. St Thomas had to be convinced. He didn’t fear his doubts evoking laughter or sharp reactions from the other disciples. He wanted to put his finger into the print of the nails and his hand into the side of our Lord.

St Gregory the Great comments thus:

“The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ’s wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection.”²

Eight days later, Jesus Christ appeared again to all disciples. Our Lord exhorted St Thomas to believe the resurrection by putting his finger in His nails and to touch His side by his hand. There was no looking back for St Thomas. Overcome with love and devotion, he uttered the most beautiful and insightful proclamation: ‘My Lord and My God’!

This was Thomas, slow to believe, needed conviction but once convinced there was no stopping him. Perhaps this explains the Church Traditions that he may have traveled farther with the gospel than any of the other apostles.

I have cited many times the sermon by a priest-monk of the Indian Orthodox Church- Very Rev Sudha Paul Rambachan. Rambachan in one of his sermon reminisced that what brought him to Christianity was the conviction of his room-mate Christian friend who was undoubtedly sure that his Lord can heal the family member of their mutual friend. Unfortunately, this is the conviction that we are lacking in today’s times.

There is also a legend that the two fingers of St Thomas were fused together and after touching the wounds of his Lord, the fused fingers got separated. Since St Thomas’s hands had touched the Lord, the other Apostles kissed the hands of St Thomas and thus started the tradition of the kissing of hands of priests/bishops.

May the prayers of our spiritual father- Apostle St Thomas be a refuge for us and may it help us to walk on the right path with courage and conviction.

In Christ,

Rincy John

Ref:

¹Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A. H. H. OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII: 96, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45349/in-memoriam-a-h-h-obiit-mdcccxxxiii-96, accessed on April 27,2019.

²Homily of St. Gregory the Great, Crossroads initiative, published on April 03, 2018 https://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/media/articles/doubting-thomas-2/, accessed on April 27,2019

Church fathers/ecclesiastical writers on ‘no prostrations’ during the Season of Resurrection.

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

The season of Resurrection is a season of celebration, a season of the joyous commemoration of the Resurrection of our Lord. In this season, no prostrations (‘kumbideel’ in Malayalam) are allowed. We will see through some examples of the early Christian witnesses and Church fathers attesting this tradition:

1) Tertullian (~160 AD-220 AD):

For those who look for ‘where is this in the Holy Scripture’, Tertullian provides an explanation that certain traditions have come about in the Church because they were ‘handed down’. He then speaks of the tradition of not kneeling/prostration on Sundays and the period from Easter to Pentecost:

 “If no passage of Scripture has prescribed it, assuredly custom, which without doubt flowed from tradition, has confirmed it. For how can anything come into use, if it has not first been handed down? .....We count fasting or kneeling in worship on the Lord's Day to be unlawful. We rejoice in the same privilege also from Easter to Whitsunday (Sunday of Pentecost).”

(Ref:- Chapter III, The Chaplet, Ante Nicene Fathers- Volume III - Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian (I. Apologetic; II. Anti-Marcion; III. Ethical) Edited by Allan Menzies)

2) The First Ecumenical Council of Nicea:

The below instruction from the first Ecumenical Council of Nicea commands that prostrations/kneeling be not allowed during the season of Resurrection (and on Sundays as well) and that it be uniformly observed everywhere:

“Forasmuch as there are certain persons who kneel on the Lord’s Day and in the days of Pentecost, therefore, to the intent that all things may be uniformly observed everywhere (in every parish), it seems good to the holy Synod that prayer be made to God, standing.”

(Ref:- Canon XX- The Canons of the 318 Holy Fathers Assembled in the City of Nice, in Bithynia; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Volume XIV-The Seven Ecumenical Councils, Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace)

3) St Basil (~AD329-AD379):

St Basil explains that we do not do prostration (and we pray only standing) on Sundays/ on the days from Easter till Pentecost because those days remind us that we have ‘rose’ with Christ and are called to look heavenwards in prayer:

..We pray standing, on the first day of the week, but we do not all know the reason.  On the day of the resurrection (or “standing again”) we remind ourselves of the grace given to us by standing at prayer, not only because we rose with Christ, and are bound to “seek those things which are above,” but because the day seems to us to be in some sense an image of the age which we expect… Of necessity, then, the church teaches her own foster children to offer their prayers on that day standing,...Moreover all Pentecost is a reminder of the resurrection expected in the age to come… On this day the rules of the church have educated us to prefer the upright attitude of prayer, for by their plain reminder they, as it were, make our mind to dwell no longer in the present but in the future.”

(Ref: Chapter XXVII, De Spiritu Sancto; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Volume VIII- ‘Basil- Select Letters and Works’, Edited by Philip Schaff)

4) St John Cassian (~AD360–435 AD):

St John Cassian is known for noting down the life and times of Egyptian monks and Desert Fathers. He mentions that the Egyptian monks don’t fast and don’t do prostrations from Easter to the Sunday of Pentecost.

“This, too, we ought to know,—that from the evening of Saturday which precedes the Sunday, up to the following evening, among the Egyptians they never kneel, nor from Easter to Whitsuntide (Sunday of Pentecost); nor do they at these times observe a rule of fasting.”

(Ref: Chapter XVIII, Book II- The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Coenobia, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Volume XI, Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace)

In Christ,

Rincy John